Deflector shield



IVI. H. DONAHUE.v

DEFLECTOR SHIELD.

APPLICATION FILED MAY Io, I922.

1942957232. Pwnted Sept. I9, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

INI/ENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

M. H. DONAHUE.

DEFLECTOR SHIELD.

APPLICATION FILED IIIAY I0, I922.

PatentedSept. 1,9, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Sept.. i9, EQ2@ tama rc.

Marron DONAHUE, or coa-Uranus, caro.

DEFLECTOR 2:! ,l

Application filed May 10, 1922. Serial No. 559,@19.

My invention relates to deflector shieldsl and is particularly intended for use with automobile headlights, although being capable of other uses. lt preferably comprises a combination deflector and reflector which may be readily mounted upon and Aoperated in connection with automobile headlights.

With strong electric headlights and with the elliptic and conical reflectors now used, whenever sulcient light for night driving is used, the resulting glare is dangerously blinding to the driver of an 'oncoming car. rlhis dan er is now commonly avoided or minimize by the practice of dimming the headlights, by using a diiusin or deflecting lens or by interposing a s ield which will cut o the blinding rays. No one of these three methods as now practiced is satisfactorily effective to prevent interference with the vision of the driver of the oncomin car and at the same time leave s uflicient ight for thedriver who' hasV availed himself or either one of these methods.

Sii

From the standpoint of safety, every driver should have a good illumination dis` posed on the ground in front of and for a substantial distance ahead of the car. He

should also have a good illumination for a substantial distance dia onally to the front and along the side o? the car, especiall to the right-hand side. rlihe position of t e light and the shape and size of the relectors bring about such complexing rereflections that merely confining the interposed shield to theupper part of the headlight or confining it to the vertically central part while leavmg the sides open is not satisfacto The rays will be reflected up from therlower part of the main reflector, or diagonally inward from the outer part, to an extent confusing to the second driver, and there will not be that reflection and concentration upon the ground in front and aty the sides which Yis essential to ood lighting and, consequentl to eilicient ('iving.`

l have devise a deflector shield which is not only effective as a dellector and as a guide to direct the light rays to the proper above;

areas o f theroad in front of the car, but which 1s also operative as a reflector to eectsecondary reflection and concentration upon the ground in front and to the sides of,

the. car o the ra s that have hitherto not been utillzed w1t the methods described rlhe shield or deflector is preferably pivotally mounted so that it may be raised or lowered at will, the lowering being particularly desirable when passing another car or when 'reaching the brow of a hill. The manipulation of my deflector is desirably e'ected from the dashboard by means of a rod extending thereto or by electrically operated means.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein similar characters of reference'- deslgnate corresponding parts, and wherein Figure l 1s a front elevation of my deilector and a form of the operating apparatus` attached to an automobile.l

Flgure 2 is a detailed sectional view taken on line 2 2 of Figure 1 and showing they delector in lowered and operative position relative to the headlight. The raised and inopermtive position of this delector is indicated by dotted lines.

Figure '3 is a detail view and partly vdiagrammatic of a headlight and delector and an attached electrical device which may be adopted as a method of raising andlowering` the deilector.

figure 4 is a longitudinal, vertical, sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 5 and showing diagrammatically the relative positions of the main reflector and my deflecting shield.

Figure 5 is a horizontal section diagram- .matically illustrating the parts in the position .shown in Figure 4, this section being taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4c.

AFigure 6 is a` detail plan' View taken at ri ht angles to the surface 7 of Figure 2.

n the drawings', the invention is shown as comprising a novel shaped deflector and an operating apparatus for positionin and adjusting the deilector. It will usua ly be found'convenient to attach the deilector and its operating apparatus to the cross-bar or rod, which often connects the two headlights of an automobile and sup ortsor steadies them and crosses in front ofp the engine hood. This rod may be desi ated 1, and this may represent any convenient part ofthe strucards 2 which are attached at their upper end to the headlight. Attached to'this cross-bar lare the up-standing arms or brackets 3,'

which at their upper end are bent into a loop 4 so as to provide a bearing for the rockshaft 5.' This rock-shaft is attached to or developed into a curved arm 6, which extends up over the top of the headlight and forms the supporting base for the rigidly attached defiector shield 7. The rock-shaft is also preferably designed to have a U-shaped and upwardly extending `arm 8,. pivotally connected at its upper end to an adjustment rod 9 which desirably passes through the upper shell of the radiator hood and is connected to the dashboard by' suitable adjusting means.

A modified form of operating apparatus is shown diagrammatically in Figure 3, and in this form I have provided a mere pivot having an arm 10 extendingr below the pivotal point so as to constitute a lever. connected at its lower end with operating means. These means may consist of a solenoid coil in the customary form, indicated by 1l, and caving amovablev core 12 which operates longitudinally a rod-13. This rod 13 is connected with and operates through the lever arm 10 or the rock-shaft 5 in Figure 1, or any other shifting means for operating 'the deflector. This-solenoid may be operated by a switch 14 located on the dash of the car as shown in Figure 3. 'I do not show the .front this shield hasx more or'less of a' shown in FiguresQ and ,4. The downward rock is continued during the forward curvature and extends downward to a point practically level with the light bulb. It will therefore cut off all the rays, both direct from the light and indirect from the main reflector, which extend above the horizontal. with the 'exception of those indirect rays whichcome from the lower part of the rex Hector. 75

VBy inspection of the figures it will be apparent that the extent to which the rays will be cut off depends upon the extent to which the lower extremity of theshield is carried forward. In practice I have found thatl substantially the proportions shown in Figure 4, as between the downward and forward curvature, and the extent of the 4top of the forward reach, will give satisfac# tory results. Any slight differences in these proportions will slightly vary the results, the purpose""of.1\f'h ich is at the same time v to bringit downwardlyfar-enoughandgagf ryits lower part forward far enough Vto cutV Y off sufliciently both the directl and indirect rays,l which would otherwise rise so as to blind an approaching driver.

Referring particularly to Figures 2 and 5, it will beunderstood that the outer side of the shield 7 is preferabl outwardly and 95 forwardly curved as at 14. More specifically Figure 5 is intended to show diagram-l matically the sidewise reflecting function of.the deflector shield. As seen from pear shaped contour, as best shown in Figure 1. The width of theopening between or describe the operation of the"de'\"ice\i-n\thee\dge of the shield 7 v'and the rim of the y detail, because it is no part of my invention; it is only one of the common operating means among which selection maybe made. Manual operation from the dash by means of a push and pull rod or by a twist of cable, or by air pressure or other electrical or electromagnetic means would'be s uch common expedients` for the same result.

In operation, I intend that the rockshaft 5 shall be operated|by the driver from the dash, by any suitable connection andeither manually lor electrically, as may beY )referred. It is obvious tiat-"as this shaft is rocked the deflector shield will go forward yand down into operative position or up and back into inoperative position and out of the way.

As shown diagrammatically in Figures 4 and 5, an electric light bulb is located, as

v customarily, at about the point. 15. The de- Hector shield ,7' asA shown'is fully lowered to its preferred position relative to the main headlight. This deflector shield is prefer; ably finished on its under surface linv any form suitable for'areliector and should have first an outward and downward inclination and then the forward curvaturey 16 asbest main liellmfincr'easas towards the bottom of the gshield. Stam". the top of the edge of the shield, the outer edg'i bent forwardly so that the curvel is'brough outward and forward. The 4extent, of this bend preferably increases toward the lower part of ,the shield, and itmay be found desirable to make a greater curvature on the right-hand side of the right shieldvthan on the left-hand side of the left shieldz thus permitting a greater amount of sidewlse relectionv upon the former side. The result 115 will be to get better illumination at the righthand side of the road, and to protect the eyes of the oncoming' driver b having less sidewise reflection from the le t side.

The effect of this sidewise bend 17 of the 120 reflector 7 coupled with this reflector function, is that lpractically all the light coming directly from the light bulb. 15,' or indirectly from the main-reflector, on the outer side of the center'is deflected4 to and illuminates the sides ofthe road diagonally ahead of the car, exceptin that portion which is f thrown down and j orward and illuminates the road directly in front oflthe car.

It will be obvious that theprecise form of 13( ico A the side curvature 17 is not important. The

essential thing is that the light, both direct and indirectr` instead of being cut off absolutely from a part of the front is mainly deflected to the side, and that this forward bending of the side of the shield is carried far enough so that the reflections from the extreme forward part of the side of the main reflector can not cross over in front of the machine enough to trouble the driver of the other car.

lt will also be apparent that with the novel shape of the deflector shield which l have described. and by the secondary reflector function which is given to the under side, the light is greatly intensified upon the road, not only immediately in front of the car but also for a relatively long distance ahead.

llaving thus what l claim is:

1. shield for automobile headlights adapted to be positioned in front of a headlight, the front portion thereof being curved forwardly and upwardly with respect to the rear portion and a side thereof being curved upwardly and outwardly.

2. A shield for automobile headlights adapted to be positioned in front of a headlight, the front portion being up-tiii'ned with respect to the rear portion so as to deflect the light rays downwardly and forwardly, one side of said shield projecting laterally so as to block off lateral and forward prodescribed my invention,

jection of light rays at said side, the other side being curved so as to permit the escape of light rays laterally and forwardly at said lateral side.

3. A deector shield and secondary reflector for automobile headlights, positioned Iin front of said headlights, said shield having having its rear part inclined downwardly and its front part inclined forwardly, and having its outer portion inclined outwardly and forwardly, whereby the light is cut ff from the upper front and the upper inner directions and concentrated. and reflected to the front and to the right as well as down, in combination with means for raising or lowering the shield into operative and inoperative positions.

ln testimony whereof I hereby affix my signature.

URlCE H. DONAHUE. 

